clear, sound reasoning from the Word of God against the perversions of heretics. (Formula of Concord, Decl.) The Lutheran Church, as did the apostolic church, recognizes the written Word of the apostles and prophets as the only and complete source, standard and rule of all Christian teaching, she accepts and believes all of the Word of God, as did the other, not soliciting the opinion of others. All those that try to persuade her of the contrary she asks, Show me where it is written, and answers them, Thus it is written. To the one as to the other the chief and paramount issue is the doctrine of Christ and of justification, both determine not to know anything save Jesus Christ and Him crucified, I. Cor. 2:2. Both rigidly distinguish the Law from the Gospel, rightly dividing the word of truth, II. Tim. 2:15. Both understand the difference between the old Covenant and the New, between the Old Testament and the New; they are aware that they are no more under tutors and governors, Gal. 4:2, and that now no one may with Scriptural reasons judge them in meat, or in drink, or in respect of a holy day, Col. 2:16. Neither will suffer to be entangled with the yoke of bondage, Gal. 5:1; their ministers must not speak by commandment, II. Cor. 8:8. Both maintain that the kingdom of grace is "not of this world,” John 18:36, and that therefore the "weapons of warfare" in the Church "are not carnal," II. Cor 10:4. Both stand that test of all teaching: the "giving all glory to God," Isa. 42:8; Rom. 4:20; and affording to all poor sinners alike the full and undiminished consolation as purchased by Christ and in store for them.

To be consistent, we cannot look upon the Lutheran Church as being merely on a par with other visible churches. Any two churches opposing each other cannot both be correct. He who overlooks the differences is insincere. Now, whoever, will but take the trouble of comparing closely the teachings of the Lutheran Church with those of other churches, and has been convinced that, to use the words of Duke William of Bavaria, spoken to Dr. Eck at Augsburg: "the Lutherans are settled in, and others aside, of the Scriptures," he cannot but say that the Lutheran Church is the only one making good its claim of being the true visible Church. Or has any one at any time

with sound reasons from the Scriptures proved her to be mistaken? We look for such a one in vain. And now, to be consistent, the Lutheran Church must declare all those to be heretics that are, and insist upon being, aside of the Scriptures. She must keep away from them, "reject them," "avoid them," Tit. 3:10; Rom. 16:17. We do not say that all, or that only Lutherans will be saved, for there are many confessing with their mouths only, and again, there are many within other churches that cling to such remnants of the Word of God as they get, and would drop wrong notions, if given the right kind of instruction; their "eyes would be opened," as were those of Cleopas and Luke, ch. 24:31, if the Scriptures are opened to them.

2. And we will give yet another proof that the Lutheran Church is the old Apostolic Church. Both saw the necessity of and regarded the Lord's command to “give account of our faith," I. Pet. 3:15. They showed their colors. There was no thought of them "bidding God's speed." II. John 10, to those and mingling in any form of divine worship with those that did not commit themselves as to what they believed. It did not matter to the Roman Catholics throughout the Middle Ages just what the people believed, they kept them in ignorance. Next in the course of time to the Athanasian Creed there were no statements of faith amongst the Catholics, nor amongst the many Reformed Churches, but the Lutheran confessions of faith are the oldest. Others followed. Besides, to this day all churches more or less lose sight of the importance and necessity of statements of faith, all but the Lutheran Church. Some have confessions, but do not ask any unqualified subscription to the same; others consider statements of faith a ballast and a remnant of the dark ages. Strange to say, these same people do not consider the laws of the country a nuisance. If public officers break their oath, or perform their duties according to their own good pleasure, they are forced from office. And should only the Church allow liberties to its officers, to teach and live contrary to her principles and still keep the unfaithful stewards in office? Indeed, the Church has

vastly more important issues at stake than the government has at any time, for she watches for the souls as one that must give account. It may be worthy of note, that the Lutheran Church, because she remains loyal to her statements of faith, has had the largest increase in numbers, 115 per cent, in the last twenty years, according to Dr. Carroll, where others have been at a standstill.

3. There is still another reason for this loyalty to the confessions of faith. Both the Apostolic Church and the Lutheran Church consider the Bible as a fixed standard for faith and life for all times to come. There is no room, nor necessity, for any improvement in what the Lord has ordained to be; the word that He has spoken shall judge at the last day, John 12:48. No new revelations or teachings are to be expected. Those that do not want to be hemmed in by confessions of faith, so as to develop new thought, these people expect new thought really not of the Spirit of God, but of their own mind, for which they want the liberty of making a religion up to the standard of their own knowledge. They do not, then, so much fight the symbols or statements of faith as they fight the divine statements of God; instead of enriching their own knowledge from the Scriptures they replace the teachings of Holy Writ by inventions of their own mind. And as far as this is permitted, the Church will not be united, but split all the more. The Lutheran Church has always stood for union, as did the old apostolic Church, but this union can only be brought about by "bringing into captivity" our reason under the Word of God, II. Cor. 10:5.

Now this is just what Sectarians fail to do, and, consequently, we have as many other reasons to warn against them as there are Church bodies among them. We will put the various Catholic Church bodies at the head of the list. We ask:

CHAPTER II.

Why should a Lutheran not join any of the Catholic Church bodies?

Introductory Remarks: The rise of the Catholic Churches, particularly that of the Roman Catholic Church, was a gradual one. One of the chief characteristics of the pope and his servants is to rule, in spite of the avowal of the Lord: One is your Master, even Christ, and all ye are brethren, Mat. 23: 8-10. We see the beginning of tendencies to rule during the time of the apostles, and, at the same time, bitterly fought by them. St. John says concerning a Diotrephes, III. John, v. 9-10: that he, who loveth to have the pre-eminence among them receiveth us not. St. Paul mocks Christians that like to be imposed upon: II. Cor. 11:20 (Ye suffer if a man bring you into bondage, if a man devour you, if a man take of you, if a man exalt himself, if a man smite you on the face.) Ask yourself, whether Peter, who bids the elders to feed the flock of God not as being lords over God's heritage, I. Peter 5:3, whether St. Peter was the first pope. These would-be rulers did not, however, have it all their own way, until the old Roman Empire was "taken out of the way." II. Thess. 2:7. It is immaterial, who, after the downfall of that Empire, may be called the first pope; whether it was Boniface III. (607), who first assumed the name "pope," or whether it was Boniface I. (419) who, already at that time stood for all the essential heresies that are now the boast of the papacy. The struggles between bishops and presbyteries and deacons, after the apostles had died, had narrowed down to a struggle between the bishop of Constantinople and the one at Rome, causing a split, and the various bishops at Rome, or popes, through a series of bold lies, in the course of time, gradually, but surely made the Church a slave, and the various governments their footstool. In the papal bull "Unam Sanctam," of the year 1302, it is decreed that it is necessary for all human creatures to obey the pope, if they would be saved. Bellarmine, a Roman Catholic cardinal at the time of the Reformation, speaks of eighteen

popes that tried to dethrone kings and princes, and of seventeen kings and emperors, whose power they tried to rob. Indeed, the person pictured, II. Thess. 2: 3-4-12, is none other than the pope. The history of the Roman Catholic Church is one of a series of lies (for inst.: the supremacy of Peter at Rome, that the popes called the general councils, the Pseudo-Clementines, the Promise of Pippin, the Pseudo-Isidorian decrees, counterfeit documents); it is one of religious intolerance and bloodshed (the night of Aug. 24th, 1572, at Paris, the inquisition); its moral life throughout the ages was a disgrace. Still, Rome, although shorn of its political power, has not changed. Cardinal Gibbons said that within the next ten years Rome will dictate the politics of the United States. A Roman Catholic paper, "The Shepherd of the Valley," says: "If Catholics ever gain a numerical majority, religious freedom in this country is at an end. So our enemies say. So we believe." Western Watchman, Dec. 24th, 1908: "We have always defended the persecution of the Huguenots and the Spanish Inquisition." * * "When she thinks it good to use physical force, the Church will use it." "She gives no bond that such things (persecutions) shall not occur again."

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*

The Greek Catholic Church does not recognize, since the split in 1054, the resolutions of councils within the Roman Catholic Church, but is practically the same as the other in teachings. There are three divisions within that Church: one under the rule of the Patriarch of Constantinople, another under the jurisdiction of the Holy Synod at Petersburg, another in Greece.

When Pius IX., on the 18th of July, 1870, in the council assembled at Rome, declared that the Roman pontiff, when in discharge of his duties is infallible, the minority in the council had decided to quit Rome. They did, and the new party, called itself the Old Catholics. While few reforms were made, especially at a conference in Bonn, as for inst., recognizing the marriage of the priests as lawful and administering the communion in both kinds, they have not broken away from most of the errors of the Church they left.

The Armenian Church is almost identical with the Orthodox Greek Catholic Church in doctrine. A split